Alex Rawnsley's inside look at the BCHL's Powell River Kings

Kings Comeback, Tied Eagles 5-5

It looked bleak after 40 minutes worth of play. The Kings had allowed five goals in the middle frame and all of a sudden they were staring down the barrell of a 5-2 scoreline. But the Kings and Eagles wound up tied at 5 when they’d spent 70 minutes going up and down the ice.

(I’m having upload problems at the hotel and can’t get the highlights up…it’s also why this blog is late. I’ll keep trying throughout the day)

Here are some thoughts from the game:

The Kings bookended this game. It wasn’t even close in the 1st period. The Kings badly outshot and out chances the Eagles. Surrey, while only having 4 shots on goal, a couple were good scoring opportunities, but the real good ones came off Kings sticks through errors or mis-communications to the side of the net.

James Neil had one of his better games as a King. When James is noticable on the ice, he can really control play. The assist on Matt Dupont’s goal showed maturity, patience and skill. It probably would have been very tempting to fire one on a wrap around, but he saw Dupont waiting, and found him for one of the easier goals Matt’s ever scored.

Luke Nogard snapped a 15-game slump with a pair of goals. He got the one (currently credited to Leung) in the 2nd, and then followed that up with another in the 3rd. He battled well all night long.

Another few players who were beyond ‘noticable’ were JJ Coleshaw and Landon Robin. Coleshaw had his best game of the season in just about all aspects of the game. He read it well, backchecked well, created offensively.

Not a game Jonah Imoo will put on his personal highlight reel. Perhaps a little mental fatigue, perhaps some bad luck, Jonah got caught with a couple of plays he just won’t be proud of. You saw his reaction after the 1-1 goal, it told the story.

On the flip side, give credit to Braeden Ostepchuk for his play. It’s so tough to come into a game cold, without seeing a puck until you HAVE to stop it. Stepper was excellent and again put his team in a position to win. How many times have we said that this season?

What could be better? Starts with the Kings own zone. Mainly in the 2nd, but a little in the 3rd and overtime, the Kings struggled to get the puck past their own blue line. A D-to-D pass resulted in a goal in the middle frame, and just like that the run for the Eagles was on. Even in overtime, three players on the ice all skated away from the puck after Ostepchuk had made a save. It allowed a great 2nd chance for the Eagles. Communication, confidence and consistency.

Will work on getting Derek Bachynski’s post-game comments up as soon as I can (likely at the rink tonight). At the end of the day, he said while it’s not 2 points, there’s a lot of pride the Kings can take from getting that result, given where they were after 40.